This post was made in response to this awesome post. Find the link here.
Kindly watch my video below:
HERE.
These are the amazing things I learned from Bro. Eli Soriano's teaching on the above-mentioned topic in addition to my own personal research as well.
Genesis 1:31 (NIV)
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
God didn't create anything for us to sin, rather He created everything for our good and the tree being at the center of the garden has its own significance too. Everything God made was beautiful and the Bible testified to this.
1 Timothy 4:4 (NIV)
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
Improper use would always lead to abuse and disobedience. When the value of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable. Every herb of the field that God created was for our own use but due to the nature of man, inherited from Adam's disobedience, we always find a way to abuse the intended purpose of God for it. Let's consider the cause of Marijuana. Marijuana in itself is not a bad thing because it helps relieve pain and other health related benefits but now we know how it is being abused on a daily basis.
God is a God of order and He wants us to obey Him not because it is easy for us but because we trust Him. The tree God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from was conspicuously placed at the center of the garden for a reason. God is never the one to override our choice and he wants us to have a choice and yet still choose him. The tree was placed there to give man a choice to either choose Him or another way and that's why He placed it there.
It's easy to love someone when we have no other choice but the true test of the love is in spite of the choices, we still go ahead to choose whom we have chosen. That's love. The Bible recorded that to be tempted is not a sin but yielding to that temptation is what is sin. Adam and Eve yielded to the temptation even when the instructions were clear as to the consequences of it.
That's what God has given us in the world today as well. He has given us choices so He can truly know those who genuinely love Him, not because it is convenient for them but because they trust and love Him.
Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV)
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
It was the only tree created by God that was forbidden by man to eat and that was deliberately to give man a choice. It wasn't an apple because the Bible didn't say it was an apple as many people have come to believe. God didn't disapprove of Apple. He made everything for our consumption. It was not even the fruit that made them sin but disobedience. They transgressed the order of the Lord because the instruction was clear to man from the get-go.
God knows what is good for us just as a doctor would prescribe based on what he or she knows due to the state of the health. The doctor can advise you but he would never decide or make your choices for you and that is our God. He will let you see and know the consequences of every action but He would never force us to walk in His will or love Him. The love has to come from the understanding that despite having choices, we have decided to choose Him. This is only buttressed when Joshua said "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". He made a choice even though he had other choices of serving other lesser gods as described in the Bible.
1John 3:4 (NIV)
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
Every act of disobedience to a clear instruction from God is sin. He gave us choices so we can decide what we want and that was why that tree of knowledge of good and evil was placed at a strategic place to allow man to decide who He really wants to serve after seeing the goodness of God and the power of Him.
Thank you for your time.
My pen doesn't bleed, it speaks, with speed and ease.
Still me,
My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
Olawalium; (Love's chemical content, in human form). Take a dose today: doctor's order.